hutch

Best hold fire on extraditing Julian Assange to Sweden for a bit then

Good to see that wit & irony continues to thrive on this board

The PFA have more to lose by supporting (allowing?) players to tear up their contracts & move on. It would create a very dangerous precedent, and undermine pretty much everything Taylor has achieved in the past 20-odd years. I'd be very surprised if the PFA isn't pressing them to sit tight unless another offer comes in which broadly matches their current terms, regardless whether that leads to liquidation or not.

Maybe he read Chainrai's "One way or another I will get my money back" article in the Hong Kong paper?

Just reading Birch's proposals now. I see HMRC have come up with a cunning plan to get their money back.

Nope. But he will surely succeed in persuading them waive just enough of their entitlement to improve BC's offer to be a smidgeon higher than the Trust's bid. Without waiving anything, he stands to get about a quarter of his half-a-million back, as secured creditor of CSI. BC £500k -> TB TB £10.6m/£40.2m x £500k = £132k -> AA AA £132k -> BC All before expenses of course, and based on figures from The News. I haven't read Birch's offer yet. And a quick afterthought, if those figures from The News are correct, the Administrator of CSI can vote down any CVA, but if he waives any entitlement he can't. So expect any waiving to only apply to an offer from Chainrai.

Which one?

And Maidstone United: What's the date of their first fixture?

Used to be 5 at any one time. Not sure if it's still the same. You can deactivate old ones.

I thought the critical point was the players realise that they're better off looking for a new club while still drawing wages from PFC, rather than signing on the dole after 14 days.

The old "hours from liquidation" routine. We haven't had that one yet this time round.

Don't knock it. Otherwise we won't be able to use that old chestnut about all the ships leaving Portsmouth.

It's an AGM. The Board will be lined up along the top table, and the CEO's or Administrators of the 72 clubs will be the "shareholders" voting on each resolution.

goat

It would be interesting to see how you vote on that one, Nick.

I listened to that audioboo clip of TB last night. It sounded to me as though he is quite a long way from having a bid from Chainrai sorted. I'm struggling to think what he can take with him to the AGM. The best I can come up with is an offer to buy the club from Chainrai, which he will sign today, provided the FL agree to just a couple of minor points in the small print, including their agreement to waive the football creditor's rule, just this once for Pompey you understand, so that TB can sack the overpaid squad and lump them into the CVA for tuppence in the pound. And a promise not to do it again. I can't see that they can realistically give him more time. Don't they have to publish the fixture list in a fortnight? I wonder if Gordon Taylor gets an invitation to attend the AGM.

One to knock on the door. One each side of the front door to cover him. Two round the back to cover the quick bolt for freedom. One down each side of the house covering the windows. And a couple of snipers on the roof across the road. Don't you have TV up there?

He put in some great performances for Blackburn last season (we get loads of live PL games over here), but I would be horrified to see him in a Saints shirt.

If the figure quoted in the Mail article is correct, they will be receiving the princely sum of £14k a week in total from the League central distribution fund. Parachute payments aside, and one way or another they won't get their hands on any of those, they're going to have to sell an awful lot of tickets to pay that wage bill.

The Pompey blight has already dragged the FL & the PL through the Courts in the past year. I doubt they enjoyed that much. HMRC have been given leave to appeal, and the judge, from bits I've seen, seems to be telling HMRC that he found against them on the particular question of law they asked him to address, but if they asked him a different question the outcome might be different. There is also the prospect of parliamentary intervention. Does the League really want that? I can see reasons why they would be glad to see the back of them and let the dust settle. That's not to say it will happen though, but they could be tempted.

We haven't really been in Europe in the Ryanair/Easyjet/Flybe/Eurostar era. It's a whole new ball game.

Simple answer, Bobby, as I see it is that he has already held a creditor's meeting (27th April rings a bell) where he presented the options to the creditors. At that meeting they instructed (or authorised?) him to find a buyer and put together a CVA, rather than liquidate immediately. So his defence is that he was following the wishes of the creditors. I see that he has managed to pull a rabbit out of the hat, and complete the firesale before the FL AGM. That £400k is nearly enough to pay up the remaining wages for the 3 players they released at the end of their contracts. Leaves the squad a bit depleted, but Cardiff, Brum & Reading have done the decent thing and let him have Lawrence, Hoseclip & Mullins back to plug the gaps.

They could do worse than quote Justice Norris in Court in March 2010: Spookily, in response to a suggestion from PFC in Court that they were being bankrolled by a certain Mr. Balram Chainrai

You can do the same with Nokia PC Suite if you have that.

To put it into context, the effect of the FCR is, at best, negligible on wages or transfer fees. The FCR only really has any effect where a club goes bankrupt while still receiving substantial payments from the football authorities. In reality that means clubs still playing in the PL receiving massive TV money, or newly relegated from the PL and still receiving massive parachute payments. Clubs in that situation just don't go bust, do they? Most clubs that go bust aren't due any significant money from the authorities which could be diverted. Pompey IS a special case.